Ocean Breeze: Great Loop Date: 09.24.2010 (Friday): Havana (Hint: OB’s in Illinois)…

Day #43: 985.6 total miles (47.6 miles 7.75 hours 9.0 mph)
Locks to date: 7 (today: 1)
Port #18 – Havana, IL

OB left IVY in her wake at 8:15AM. She (OB) was clean inside and out. Capt. Todd, 1st Mate PSR and Apprentice Mate Charlie were all well rested. IVY was a great place to recharge our batteries. We were on our way to another five star retreat in Havana…Illinois.

The day started out rainy, windy and not very pleasant. We had one lock ahead…the Peoria Lock. As we passed downtown Peoria, Todd decided to call ahead to the lock. Our luck didn’t change. The lockmaster said the lock would be tied up with tow traffic for about two hours. We turned back to the free downtown dock and tied off for an hour.

Squivot was coming downstream from IVY. I called to them to let them know about the lock situation. They decided to continue on…just slower.

After our hour wait, we untied and headed toward the lock. It was still tied up with the upbound barge. We could see Quest and another downbound pleasure craft, September Song, anchored and waiting.

We just puttered around in the channel with Squivot doing the same. It probably looked like we were doing some kind of ballet with Quest and September Song our audience. Once we all were able to enter the lock, it only took us 15 minutes to drop and exit.

Quest and September Song disappeared downstream straight out of the lock. Squivot slowly disappeared, as well. We continued with our fuel sparing speed.

The lower part of Peoria is very industrial with many barges parked along both sides of the river. A couple of tows were jockeying about, moving barges here and there for later transport up or down the river. It was hard to tell what their direction would be and we did get jostled about in their wake.

Once we were past the barge staging area, the river traffic became quiet and the wind picked up. Our speed slowed with the wind. We even had white caps on the water!

We saw a lot of abandoned barges along the Illinois River.

Another abandoned loader. It was odd to see so much abandoned steel all along the way.

Oh yes...lot's of barges to pass going and coming.

We saw many abandoned wood moorings falling apart too.

Then there were these nice telephone poles lodged in the channel. Some were painted dayglow orange and some were just there.

This petroleum farm seemed to still be active with fresh paint on the tank. The loading dock looked pretty shabby, though.

Mark on Squivot called us on the cell phone to let us know a dredging operation was ongoing around Mile 135. He used the cell because the Dredge Captain was furious at the first pleasure boaters that came through the area. The dredge captain had even mentioned holding up the rest of us (Squivot and OB) for five hours to let us cool our heels. Mark was trying to make peace and get us through the area. We were about 30 minutes behind them.

By the time we got to the dredge, a barge was coming through. The DC had opened up an area for the barge to pass through. We held back and couldn’t understand the directions the DC was giving us. As soon as the barge passed through, two little work tows scurried to close the dredge pipe and we still hadn’t passed. The DC made us take OB through a very narrow area off the starboard (right) side of the channel. The whole maneuver felt very nerve wracking but we made it around and back into the channel unscathed. We lost another 30 minutes through this whole ordeal.

Thinking we were in the free and clear, both Todd and I sat back for a relaxing finish to our cruise to Havanah. I began working on my next blog. Suddenly Todd slowed the boat to a standstill. A deer was swimming across the channel in front of us! I guess there was something better on the other side for her. She was a very strong swimmer and once out of the water, she really scampered off.

It was a difficult finding the entrance to Tall Timbers Marina. It is tucked behind what is described as an old lock wall, although I never saw it. Tall Timbers is in a nature preserve and is densely forested. We really enjoyed the setting that first night, visiting with Mark from Squivot. Susan was still under the weather with the flu/cold that everyone seemed to pick up in Chicagoland.

Looking down the river we couldn't find the entrance to Tall Timbers.

We were almost past it when we saw in on the port.

Awesome little marina. Everything is floating except the bathroom up on the hill in the background (look up the ramp).

Tired Captain

This one is for everyone back home...especially Rena, our hair stylist

Such a nice area to sit, relax and enjoy the surroundings.

OB was pretty happy in Tall Timbers, too.

This was the scene right behind OB...pretty awesome. The Asian carp were there too but they didn't jump when we came in.

Squivot left for Grafton, IL the next morning. We had already decided to take an extra day in Havanah to restock. The day was dismal grey with rain and cooler temperatures. Downtown was an easy walk and we got many of the supplies on our list at a very well stocked Dollar General store.

When we came back, a very nice gentleman at the marina offered us the use of his truck to run to the IGA on the outskirts of town. The generosity and kindness of all the folks we have met has been amazing. We put gas in the fellow’s tank in thanks.

That evening we went to the Townsquare Restaurant to have an original local creation…the Horseshoe. The owner of the marina had mentioned we should try one before we left town. The Horseshoe is two pieces of Texas Toast, two hamburgers, a pile of fries covered with a cheese sauce. Todd and I split one and it was still too much for us to consume! I still get indigestion thinking of it.